Is It Parody? Or Is That Necessary?

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Zarathustra's surface style is meant as an illustration of what that sensibility would look to us. The point is sort of a relative of, i don't know if you remember martha nusbom's a fragility of goodness. And her line of the protagoris is that socrates hedonism on which, you know, you make decisions on the basis of just producing the greatest amount of pleasure. That's socrates recommendation for reforming are decision making. We are supposed to be looking to the reform programme to make things better for us, better by whose lights? and i think nita is prodding you in the same way.

What can studying the lives of philosophers tell us about how to organize and interpret our own lives? Elijah Millgram is a professor of philosophy at the University of Utah whose research focuses on the theory of rationality. His latest book, John Stuart Mill and The Meaning of Life, analyzes the relationship between the ideas of the famous theorist and their impacts on Mill’s life. His forthcoming book examines the life and work of Frederich Nietzsche through a similar lens, combining philosophical analysis and biography.

Elijah joined Tyler to discuss Newcomb’s paradox, the reason he doesn’t have an opinion about everything, the philosophy of Dave Barry, style and simulation theory, why philosophers aren’t often consulted about current events, his best stories from TA-ing for Robert Nozick, the sociological correlates of knowing formal logic, the question of whether people are more interested in truth or being interesting, philosophical cycles, what makes Nietzsche important today, the role that meaning can play in a person’s personality and life, Mill on Bentham, the idea of true philosophy as dialogue, the extent to which modern philosophers are truly philosophical, why he views aesthetics as critical to philosophy, and more.

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Recorded May 11th, 2021 Other ways to connect

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